Oh, it's murder on the roads of Alabama,
Oh, it's murder on the roads of Alabama,
If you're fightin' for what's right,
If you're black or if you're white,
You're a target in the night in Alabama.
Oh, it march right by that spot in Alabama,
Oh, it march right by that spot in Alabama,
Oh, it march right by the spot
Where the Klansmen fired the shots,
Where the coward fired the shots in Alabama.
Oh, we know who is to blame in Alabama,
Oh, we know who is to blame in Alabama,
She caught two bullets in the brain,
Before we learned to say her name,
And George Wallace * is the shame of Alabama.
And there's a man behind the guns of Alabama,
There's a man behind the guns of Alabama,
There's a man behind the guns,
He kills for hate, for fear, for fun,
And George Wallace is top gun of Alabama.
It was Jackson* on the roads of Alabama,
It was Reeb * on the roads of Alabama,
William Moore * 's been dead and gone,
And this killin' still goes on,
Now the Liuzzo * 's on the road of Alabama.
There's a movement on the road of Alabama,
There's a movement on the road in Alabama,
Black man, white man, Christian, Jew,
We've got to keep on marchin' through
Or the tyrant's days are few in Alabama.
It was murder on the road of Alabama,
It was murder on the roads of Alabama,
If you're fightin' for what's right,
If you're black or if you're white,
You're a target in the night in Alabama.
Oh, it's murder on the roads of Alabama,
If you're fightin' for what's right,
If you're black or if you're white,
You're a target in the night in Alabama.
Oh, it march right by that spot in Alabama,
Oh, it march right by that spot in Alabama,
Oh, it march right by the spot
Where the Klansmen fired the shots,
Where the coward fired the shots in Alabama.
Oh, we know who is to blame in Alabama,
Oh, we know who is to blame in Alabama,
She caught two bullets in the brain,
Before we learned to say her name,
And George Wallace * is the shame of Alabama.
And there's a man behind the guns of Alabama,
There's a man behind the guns of Alabama,
There's a man behind the guns,
He kills for hate, for fear, for fun,
And George Wallace is top gun of Alabama.
It was Jackson* on the roads of Alabama,
It was Reeb * on the roads of Alabama,
William Moore * 's been dead and gone,
And this killin' still goes on,
Now the Liuzzo * 's on the road of Alabama.
There's a movement on the road of Alabama,
There's a movement on the road in Alabama,
Black man, white man, Christian, Jew,
We've got to keep on marchin' through
Or the tyrant's days are few in Alabama.
It was murder on the road of Alabama,
It was murder on the roads of Alabama,
If you're fightin' for what's right,
If you're black or if you're white,
You're a target in the night in Alabama.
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Governor of Alabama during most of the Civil Rights Movement.
* Jackson :
Jimmie Lee Jackson, a murdered civil rights activist who was shot in Selma in 1965.
* Reeb :
James Reeb, a Unitarian Universalist pastor and civil rights activist who was beaten to death in 1965.
* William Moore :
William Lewis Moore, a civil rights and mental illness activist shot twice in the head in Attalla.
* Liuzzo :
Viola Liuzzo, a civil rights activist from Michigan, who was killed on route 80 in Selma. She is the subject of the song and its title.